Icewind Dale and Planescape Info

Interplay has released some new information on one of their upcoming AD&D games, Icewind Dale. Icewind Dale is set in the AD&D world the Forgotten Realms, in a place which has the same namesake as the title, Icewind Dale. It follows the second edition ruleset, and seems to be focused more on the whole party than an individual main character like in Baldur's Gate.

Given Black Isle Studios' past record, it looks like this game will be as great as their previous effort major AD&D offering. To help make the game special Black Isle is being fairly selective in what monsters will be included for this adventure. Although some of the more common creatures that dwell in the Realms should make an appearance, there will also be an inclusion of a few rare beasties as well. Here are the first four to be anounced.

Yuan-Ti

"When we began designing the game, we knew that we wanted a civilization of some sort to be an obstacle to the player, and we knew that we wanted a dungeon area in which volcanic activity created a semi-tropical steamy and warm environment. There are a few other things we needed too, especially a monster type that would hearken to a snake like deity. For this reason we chose the Yuan-Ti. Although we have degraded the Yuan-Ti slightly in terms of intelligence based on the fact that our Yuan-Ti are many generations removed from the Yuan-Ti that were originally transplanted to the dungeon in which they reside, we wanted them to be able to create a interesting and beautiful architecture underground."

Orog

"In an early part of the game we wanted to create an area that was structured like a military compound. We liked the idea of the neo-orog, but the source material requires them to be in the services of the Red Wizards. We then looked to the Orog and decided that we could create a more specialized group of Orogs that gave us some of the benefits of the Neo-Orog without violating the source rules. Essentially, we just made slightly smarter and stronger Orogs."

Ice Troll

"Although much of the game is played in dungeons, which can be anything from freezing to tropically warm (based on volcanic activity, usually), some is played outside in the wintry terrain. We needed a few tough, but low-level creatures for the adventurers to fight during the early stages of the game. The fact that they have a little more intelligence allows us to get a little fancy with the scripting both for the creatures and the encounters that the adventurers will have. Since we want to be able to put pressure on not only the player characters, but the non-player-characters that they will encounter (so that we can establish fun, believable, and achievable quests that are primarily combat based), the Ice Troll was on our monster list very early."

Skeleton, Tattered

"The Tattered Skeleton (the actual name attached to this creature is likely to change) is not so much a new monster, as skeletons of all varieties exist within the Realms, but rather something we wanted to have as a middle point between the very low level standard skeleton and the higher level Skeletal Warriors. We wanted to be able to have a horde of the low level skeletons with a sort of 'boss' skeleton or two that were quite obviously created as 'special' obstacles by whatever dark powers were seeking protection of undead. Our result was the Tattered Skeleton, a creature that could both co-exist as a boss for low-level skeletons and also act as shock troops in higher level undead areas.

"The idea is that these creatures were extremely powerful mortals, and after having been raised still possess some of their original power. However, over time their equipment and powers have faded to various degrees, but the magic that animate them have compensated. The result is a slightly larger undead foe, who fights with great strength and has a larger ability to both deal and receive damage. As well, because of their deteriorated state, we are varying their stats highly based on specific encounters so as to provide the most possible interest to the player. It will be hard to determine when you meet them exactly how powerful they are going to be."

Also for those who were waiting for this day to finally be upon us, Planescape: Torment has been released! The latest Interplay/Black Isle Studios' role player has the BioWare Infinity Engine behind its gameplay, so you know its gotta be good. Unless of course you didn't like its functionality in previous games. Anyway, what are you doing still reading this? You could be out buying this game right now! Unless of course it's really dark out and all the stores are already closed...